L.I.R.R.

A girl meets a man on a train to Long Island where they share an awkward exchange of anger and miscommunication. The rest of their respective days are spent reshaping their interaction, through conversations and through actions where they endeavor to find some sort of connection. Even though these encounters are pure fantasy, by the end of the day, when they rediscover each other on the train platform in reality, they are transformed by a greater understanding of each other and more substantively, of themselves.

Film notes

The film was shot in color on Polaroid, Super8 mm and Super16 mm film. Polaroid stills introduce the two main characters, the environment of Penn Station and the details of the rushing morning crowds swirling by in contrast to the stillness of the man and the girl; two people at odds with their surroundings. Super 8mm footage on the train serves as the reality segment of their encounter; the most intimate yet also the most crude. The Long Island sequences are shot on Super 16mm; both painterly and compositionally idealistic, with a soft, filtered palette punctuated by select vivid, hyper-saturated colors. The final scene at the platform reverts to Super 8mm as the man and the girl reconnect in reality. When the train departs, the film freezes, perpetuating the abstraction of the encounter as the crystallization of a moment in time.
“L.I.R.R.” is a tale of opposites: of culture, generation, and gender. Though these differences initially form the barrier between these characters, eventually they enable their healing.